They Find Her They Find Us
by Nocturne in C Moll
Summary: One-shot alt. end to B.C. When Beth calls Mick to warn him that the police are about to raid Lola's warehouse, it goes to his voicemail. Not knowing if or when Mick will get the message, she tries to defuse the impending situation.


**Author's Note**: Finally trying my hand at Lola—a little something that came to me a while back during a rewatch of _B.C._ and wouldn't leave me alone.

**Beta: **PNWgal, aka "The Lola Queen," Special Guest Beta extraordinaire.

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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* * *

**They Find Her…They Find Us **(or, **…Lola, Run? ;** or, **No-Star Cell Service 2**)

"Come on , pick up, pick up," Beth murmured as the phone began the fifth ring.

"_You've reached Mick St. John. Sorry I'm not available to take your call right now…_"

"Damn it!" she said as his greeting finished with a beep. "Mick, it's Beth. The cops are about to raid Lola's warehouse at Fifth and Alameda. If there's anything you don't want them to find, you better get there first! Um…let me know you got this. I'll try and see if I can stall them, but…I don't know if I can."

She hung up quickly and opened Josh's door without knocking.

"Beth! What's wrong?" He dropped a handful of papers on his desk and came around it to stand in front of her.

"Don't raid the warehouse. Call it off—now."

"What? —Why?"

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Josh shook his head. "Look, Carl and the team are waiting. We need to move on Lola before she gets away again."

Beth swallowed. "This is going to sound crazy, Josh, especially coming from me, but—I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen if you raid that warehouse."

He laughed. "You're right, that does sound crazy coming from you."

"I'm serious, Josh."

He cupped her cheek in his hand. "Beth...Carl and the team know what they're doing. They know how to deal with drug dealers."

"Not this one," she mumbled. Aloud, she announced, "Then I'm going with you."

"Beth!"

"Didn't you regret asking me not to follow the story?"

Josh stared at her. "No—I said I shouldn't have asked you not to. There's a difference." He sighed. "You can't come with me."

"Fine," Beth shrugged. "I'll take my own car."

"That's not what I meant, Beth."

"Look, this is off the record. This isn't about a story anymore."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Would you care to explain that?"

"…I can't."

Josh's lips set in a line. "Then let's go."

* * *

Beth tapped her foot nervously. Her heart jumped with each shout of the officers as they swarmed the building.

Within minutes, the officers had exited the building, hustling along five men in white protective jumpsuits. They pushed the men to their knees and stood guard behind them.

The team leader stepped forward. "There's…there's something you need to see in there, sir."

"Okay. I'm coming now." Josh caught Carl's eye and nodded toward the men in handcuffs. "See what they know."

Carl dipped his head in acknowledgement and walked over to question them.

Beth dug her fingernails into Josh's arm. "I have to go with you. It's important." She took a deep breath. "…But make sure none of the officers are still in the building."

Josh frowned. "You know something, don't you. You have to tell me now."

She averted her eyes first. "Let's see what we find inside first. Then we can talk…"

He shrugged in agreement. "Fine. Let's go," he said, to her and the officer together.

"We have to go alone. _Please_."

After searching her eyes with his for several moments, Josh expelled a breath and turned to the team leader. "Are you absolutely sure the building is clear?"

"Positive, sir."

"And all your men are out?"

The man responded again in the affirmative.

"Okay. You stay here and guard the entrances. She and I are going in."

The officer glanced at Beth. "Yes, sir."

As they went, he called after them, "The room straight down the hall—you can't miss them."

"Them?" Josh echoed.

Beth began to walk faster into the building. By the time she reached the hall she was practically running.

"Beth!" Josh caught up to her just inside the room when she stopped in her tracks. He grabbed her arm. "Beth, what is—" he followed her gaze and cut himself off.

The room was filled with tanks of silvery water with bodies lying inside them, hooked up to IVs and other equipment.

Josh dropped her arm and moved forward. "What is going on in this place? Was she testing the drugs on humans before she sold them?"

"Not exactly," Beth said weakly.

The sound of footsteps in the corridor suddenly registered in their minds and they spun around in time to see Carl enter the room.

"The guys maintain they aren't talking until they see Lola's head on a pike. I guess that's their way of saying when hell freez—" he whistled low as he spotted the bodies in the tanks. "Holy schnikes! I thought this was a drug lab?" He moved to the nearest tank and peered closely at the face of the man inside. The man's eyes were open, and his lips struggled to form the shapes of words. Carl's eyes widened. "Is he still alive?" He ran his finger up the IV line and reached for the bag, which was filled with a dark red liquid.

"I wouldn't do that…" came a voice from above.

Beth, Josh, and Carl looked up, but the catwalks were clear.

A dark blonde woman in high-heeled mid-calf boots, tight black pants and a red corset top stepped out from behind a tank at the end of the room. "…It'll kill him."

Carl pulled his gun. "Police! Freeze! Put your hands behind your head."

The woman's laugh held a tint of mocking as she took a step towards them.

"I said, _don't move_!"

She stopped and eyed him with an amused twist of her lips.

"You must be Lola," Josh said. "We've been looking for you."

"I heard." She drew her eyebrows together and pursed her lips. "Sorry you missed me at the club, but I had to leave."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you did," Carl said. "Put your hands behind your head and get down on your knees."

Lola shook her head. "Oh, I don't think you really want me to do that, do you?"

"Then why'd I ask, lady?—just do it."

She sneered and complied, turning to face one of the tanks as she did so and smirking at the man inside. Carl slowly began to move toward her.

Beth could see her watching him from the corner of her eye and grabbed his arm. "Carl—_don't_."

He scowled at her. "Come on, Beth, I have to make the arrest. What's wrong with you?"

She gripped his arm with both hands. "Carl. Trust me. _Please_."

"I would listen to your…_friend_ if you value your life," Lola tossed over her shoulder.

"I'm the one with the gun!" Carl tightened his grip.

"So to speak." She glanced down her nose at him.

Beth stepped forward. "Look, we'll just leave. We'll let you and your guys go, you'll be free—you can leave LA."

Josh stared her. "Beth!"

"So, it's you again. The young one's toy." A spark appeared in Lola's eye as she finally fixated on Beth. "A noble idea, I'm sure, but I'm afraid it's just not practical. You probably should have consulted with your _other_ friend again first." She rose lithely and began to pace back and forth. Carl followed her every move with his gun, but she still focused on Beth. "You're very brave, my dear. Did you reconsider my offer?"

"No."

"And yet you're here. Helping _them_ with their little investigation now?" Her lip curled in contempt as she leaned forward and pronounced, "_Traitor_."

"I tried to stop them from coming." Beth felt Josh and Carl's eyes on her.

Lola made a dismissive noise. "Evidently not hard enough. Do you know what they did," her lips suddenly stretched thin across her teeth, "to traitors back in my day?"

"From what I hear, you're the traitor," Beth muttered under her breath.

"Don't believe everything men tell you." Lola's eyes swiftly narrowed. "We should be above all that, but they seem to think they know better—and yet we lead them all around by their…_heads_. Josef gave me the money for my little enterprise without even blinking. He didn't even think to wonder what it was for until he noticed I wasn't around anymore."

"That doesn't give you the right to do what you did."

The heels of Lola's boots began to click again. She kept her gaze fixed on Beth. "So tell me, is your _friend_ coming, too?"

"He should be here any time," Beth raised her chin.

Lola snorted. "You might be able to fool _them_"—she glanced at Josh and Carl in disdain—"but don't even _bother_ trying to lie to me."

Beth swallowed. "I—I don't know where he is."

"That's better," Lola smiled viciously. "Stopped coming around already, has he? Perhaps he didn't like the line of your tan."

Two spots of red appeared on Beth's cheeks and she pulled at the neckline of her shirt.

"Come," Lola held out her hand and beckoned with manicured fingers. "Join me. We'll show these men how to rule the night."

"No—I—I don't want that."

"I don't need your permission, you know. It'd be over before you even realized what hit you."

Beth said nothing.

Lola cocked her head. "—Or do you think your dark knight will still come to save you?"

"All right, that's enough, lady," Carl broke in, striding swiftly toward her. Before he could blink, she had knocked him in the chest with her arm and he and his gun were flying backward in the air. He landed hard on the ground and his gun spun away from him on the floor. He groaned and Josh ran over to help him.

Lola continued gazing at Beth, stretching out her arm again as if she hadn't been interrupted. "A poor substitution for a dark knight, don't you think? Come. You don't need him. You don't need any of them."

"Beth!" Josh cried as he helped Carl sit up. "What's going on? What is she talking about?"

"He cares for you too," Lola crooned, stepping in a slow circle around Beth. "But he doesn't hold the same attraction for you anymore, now…does he? The other one, though—not quite letting you into his world but hanging around on the outskirts of yours, all tragic and dark…"

"Who is she talking about? Mick?" Josh stared at Beth. "Answer me! Is it Mick?"

Beth spared Josh a glance. "Nothing's happened between me and Mick, Josh."

"Nothing?" Beth gasped in pain as Lola grabbed her hand and turned her arm over sharply, displaying the two fading scars on her wrist. "I think not."

"That was different," Beth sputtered. "He was in the desert—he going to die—I couldn't let him die!"

Josh looked at the scars. "Beth, what is she talking about?"

"Still haven't figured it out, have you?" Lola let out a peal of crystal laughter. "I can't even remember what it was like to be that stupid."

He scowled.

"Leave them alone, Lola," came a voice from the doorway.

Lola stopped in her tracks. Her upper lip curled. "Again, I see I should have closed the window." She turned to face the intruder.

"Yeah, that's the second time now—getting forgetful in your old age, are you?" Mick returned her heated gaze as he strode closer.

Her eyes flashed. "Did Josef send you again? What does he want now? Is he still…worried?"

"Not about you." He glanced at Carl and Josh, who were still crouched on the ground and watching him and Lola, wide-eyed.

Lola scoffed. "I can handle the police."

"Yeah, I have a few ideas of how you might handle them, and none of them end well for anyone involved." Without taking his eyes off of her, he said, "Beth, Josh, Carl—you should go. Now. Make up some reason to get everyone out of here and leave the area."

Carl snorted. "We can't do that, Mick."

Mick gritted his teeth. "You need to let me take care of this."

"St. John, I can't let you interfere with this investigation."

"There isn't going to _be_ any more investigation. There can't be. This ends _now._ You have to leave_ now_."

Josh shook his head. "We're not going anywhere, Mick."

Mick muttered an expletive under his breath.

"Oh, let them stay," Lola pouted. "I do so love an audience. Particularly for dinner theatre."

"No." He lowered his head. "You're done here! You're done everywhere."

"So self-righteous—like Josef," Lola spat. "Both of you, with your rules and morals." She shook her head, "We're above all that."

He lunged at her. She side-stepped and he fell hard to the ground.

"Mick!" Beth cried.

"Stay back, Beth," Mick got up easily and cracked his neck back and forth.

Carl spotted his gun six feet away from Lola and began to crawl for it, but stopped and flattened himself against the ground as Mick lunged at Lola again, narrowly missing trampling him.

Josh blinked as Lola suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Mick, who had stopped in his tracks when she vanished. Mick inhaled and turned swiftly on his heel, ready to strike, but she blocked his every strike and sent him flying back at Josh's feet.

Josh's heart was pounding now. "What…how did she do that?" he said aloud, unable to take his eyes off Mick lying on the ground in front of him. His skin had turned pallid except around the eye sockets, where it was a dull red, and his lips had cracked. He almost looked like a corpse.

Then Mick's eyes snapped open, his irises suddenly a pale ice blue in full contrast to his pupils. He snarled, displaying a set of elongated canines which weren't present when he'd last spoken.

Josh gasped. Carl had finally raised his head from the floor and was swivelling his eyes back and forth between Mick and Lola, whose colouring and teeth now matched Mick's. "What are you?" he whispered to neither in particular.

"They're vampires," Beth murmured, and both men looked at her in confusion.

Lola began to cackle and disappeared. She reappeared on one of the catwalks, her laughter echoing throughout the room. Mick jumped high into the air and landed in front of her on the platform, but as soon as he did, she was gone again. He spun around, but she was not behind him. Then he looked down at the floor and fell to his knees, gripping a nearby pipe for support.

Josh and Carl had been watching the brief scene on the catwalk, but when they saw Mick's face, they followed his gaze and their stomachs clenched.

Lola was standing behind Beth, her elongated fingernails digging into her throat. "You should not have tried to school me, young one," she said to Mick. "Now _I_ have a lesson for _you_."

"Leave her out of this. Let her go," he croaked. "This is between you and me. Vampire to vampire."

"_You_…" her lip curled contemptuously, "you don't have what it takes to be a vampire like me—still trying to be human, hanging on to your little freshie friend, here. You can't go through eternity that way." She slid her hand around to the right side of Beth's neck and stroked the left side with her other hand. She smirked as Mick's eyes widened in realization. "You'll understand…when you're older." She reared her head back and was about to sink her fangs in when suddenly she stopped and inhaled. "Josef. Darling." Lola grinned slowly and began to turn. "So glad you could join us. Perhaps y—"

Josef let his arm drop to his side, a machete dangling loosely in his hand. He gazed down at Lola's head on the ground. "Sorry I'm late, Mick—board meeting."

The blade fell from his hand and clattered to the floor. He landed hard on his knees after it and began to dry heave. When he stopped, Mick was kneeling beside him with his hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't know if you'd have it in you."

"Neither did I—neither did _she_. But I like to come prepared…" he inhaled unevenly, "good thing I did." He stared at the floor a moment, then looked up at his friend. "I couldn't let her break your heart like that, Mick."

Mick looked involuntarily at Beth, who was holding a protective hand to her neck, and Josh, who was slowly moving toward her. "Yeah."

Josef's eyes focused on one of the tanks. "You know, Lola never told me how old she was—you know how women are. But she was at least 500 years old."

"Five hundred—wow. All the history she must have seen…"

"It tricks you into thinking you're above it all. But you're not, you really are a mortal." Josef exhaled. "…Never let me forget this, Mick."

Mick laid a hand on his shoulder. "I won't."

Josef nodded shakily and jerked to his feet. His eyes grew dark. "Now, what about _them_?" he nodded toward Josh and Carl, who appeared frozen in place, and turned back to his friend. "I _told_ you not to let the cops solve this case!"

"Yeah, well, my new iPhone is a joke." Mick pulled it out of his pocket and rapped it against his leg. "If I'd had a signal when Beth tried to call, I would have gotten here _before_ the cops."

"Yeah, let's blame everything on an Apple—that sounds good. The iPhone of Knowledge of Vampires and Black Crystal—you can ask Beth about that last part," he tossed at Josh and Carl. "She has first-hand experience with 'imitation vampire'."

Beth's cheeks flushed. "It was just research…"

"You _took_ some?" Josh exclaimed as Carl asked, "Do you still have some?"

"You can talk about that later," Josef interrupted. "The first part—the knowledge of vampires—is more pressing." He took a few steps until he was standing before the humans. "Your mission—should you live to accept it—is to keep your lips zipped tight about what you've seen and heard here tonight. You both look clever—I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if you should fail to do so, and I wasn't referring to your deaths—except that I was also referring to your deaths. But humans do stupid things when they mob together. Vampires, on the other hand, do stupid things when they're alone." He glanced once more at Lola's head and sighed. "We police ourselves. You don't need to worry about doing double-duty. Just keep us out of your investigations, will you? We'll let you know if you're getting close enough for us to bite."

Carl and Josh nodded jerkily.

"Good," Josef rubbed a hand over his face. "I need a drink. We'd better get out of here, Mick, before someone else comes in. Do you have a plan?"

Mick sighed. "I saw some nitrogen tanks on my way in. We'll light this place up, destroy everything." He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and tossed it to Josef.

The vampires began walking to the gas tanks in the corner. Beth's quivering voice followed them with the question Carl and Josh couldn't quite form aloud. "And us? What do we do?"

Mick looked over his shoulder as he laid a hand on the nozzle of one of the tanks. "_Run_."

The three humans sprinted down the hall and burst through the outside door into the alley. "It's gonna blow! Everybody out of the way!"

The officers immediately scattered and took refuge behind their cars just as the windows blew out.

"What happened?" The team leader shouted to Josh as a second explosion rocked the building and sent shrapnel flying.

Josh turned to gaze at the flames shooting out of every opening. "Lola found a way to cover her tracks—we saw it just in time."

When the officer turned away to request more help via the radio, Beth directed her eyes to the roof, and Josh and Carl followed suit. A moment later, Mick and Josef appeared at the edge of a wall.

Carl shook his head in disbelief. "And I can't tell the precinct shrink any of this."

Josh locked eyes with Mick, but when he finally blinked, the two vampires were no longer there.


End file.
